My left turn signal is blinking fast. One night it was fast, then the next night it was slow, then the next night it was fast again. Now it’s fast all the time. I was going to just buy a cheap bulb to replace it, but then I happened to notice that it does light up (briefly, as expected) when I use my remote to lock the car. Any ideas of things that could cause that?
I haven’t tried to swap bulbs with the other side just yet, but will soon.
My Honda had a turn signal that would flash normally and then flash fast intermittently.
Turned out there was a bad connection at left front turn signal bulb socket.
Tester
Replace the bulb first, and not with anything cheap, then see what happens. Might want to replace the one on the other side as well if they’re the same age.
The door lock confirmation flash uses the parking/taillights, the turn signal uses a different, brighter filament in the bulb. The bulb likely has a burned-out filament (one of two inside the bulb).
Ahhhh very good to know, thank you. So at AutoZone, I see most of the Sylvania bulbs are around $8 but there is one for $18…There is one PEAK bulb in the 20’s and I don’t even know if the Diode Dynamics bulbs are relevant for my situation. Oh and there are LED’s as well. Since jdmere said don’t go cheap, I’m thinking the PEAK bulb since it’s not an LED? (I heard LED’s can melt things)
Syvania is fine. No need to overthink a turn signal bulb.
The basic Sylvania bulb is probably a higher quality bulb than the original, some manufactures use very cheap light bulbs. I have seen a lot of Kia/Hyundai vehicles with burned out light bulbs.
Another for replace the bulb that is out (not blinking when turn signal is on) with a Sylvania bulb…
Check the socket/wires for any burnt signs…
This can be an elusive fix, at least in my experience. The problem is with an old ‘05 Town and Country. From the day I bought it, it has intermitteny done the double time flash. Everyone wants to replace the bulb. That was my first attempt to solve it. Then, the mechanic at the dealer worked on it. Then, an auto electric shop worked on it twice. I had two of these vans, a year apart in age. So, I swapped the tail light assemblies, one for the other. No difference. Acquired a new, aftermarket light. No difference. Repeated switch again. The problem stayed with the 05 van. I should mention that it works fine all summer and acts up in the cold weather. So, now, the rear tail light/turn signal has worked consistently all winter but now the R front turn signal won’t work in the cold. The other day, I smacked the fender with my open hand and blinl, blink. The nest day, it wouldn’t work until t he van had been shut off after a 30 mile drive. (This is the ususal pattern - someties a mile or two will do it. Of course, it won’t act up in the presence of someone who knows what they are doing, electrically.
All of that is to wish you good luck. I hope it is your bulb and yes, change them both.
Check the rear bulbs too. They can cause a rapid flash. Two filaments. Brake and signal and tail. It’s your cars message to check bulbs.
Which one? There are 2 or 3 bulbs on each side.
It helps when the customer reports which bulb does not illuminate. I have been handed repair orders that read “Customer states check lights, some may not be working”. The technician is not going to spend an hour on an intermittent problem that only pays $6 for repair.
In my case the plot has thickened. I haven’t had a chance to try replacing anything yet. First, I need to give some context I didn’t realize was relevent. 5 days ago, the vehicle wouldn’t start. Not even a jumpstart would work. Despite the battery being 1 year old, AAA replaced the battery for me since it was under warranty. Everything was good to go, although the turn signal issue had already been happening a few days prior. Tonight, the car won’t start again (same symptoms). I’m thinking that means the turn signal issue is causing the battery to drain. Could it still be the bulb? I’ve done only two short trips of driving (40 min total) since the first time it was fixed. I just don’t want to have the battery replaced only to have it die again. I guess I will just have to replace the bulbs ASAP after the battery is replaced (since I haven’t bought the bulbs yet).
Other backstory that is hopefully irrelevant: About 3 years ago in Maine this same vehicle had an infestation of some kind of rodent…probably chipmunks or squirrels as they put hundreds of walnuts in the hood and throughout the walls of the vehicle. Fortunately they didn’t do any damage to the inside of the cabin but the wiring was chewed on. The console had been replaced, I think relays…basically 6k worth of work. But that was 3 years ago, and I moved to a suburb of Nashville TN 2 years ago and haven’t had any of those kinds of issues since…although the radio doesn’t work and the navigation system resets to Bangor Maine every time the car is restarted. I didn’t care enough to pay for those to be fixed.
The battery was replaced 5 days ago, it needs to be recharged and then the charging system should be tested. If no problem is found with the charging system, the cause of battery discharge must be diagnosed.
This can be an elusive fix, at least in my experience. The problemis with an old ‘05 Town and Country.
Turn signal. In my case, the front, right. I don’t remember about the Sorento that started the discussion.
I think you probably have more than one problem going on at the same time, generally an OEM bulb itself can/will not cause a parasitic drain on the battery, the power source (switch etc) has to be giving constant voltage to the bulb for it to cause a drain on the battery… Do you have any external lights on when the vehicle is turned off after 30 minutes or so??? (once the auto lights are turned off)
You also (unless I missed it) have not even checked to see if it is a front or rear bulb that is not working (causing the hyper flash)…
As far as the bulb working/not working/working/not working again, the incandescent bulb filament can break and then while it has voltage applied to it and a vibration of some kind happens, the filament can actually “weld” itself back together making the bulb work as normal until a vibration (small bump in the road etc) causes the filament to break again, this can go on for quite a while…
Same thing happens if the bulb is out and you smack the lens and the bulb starts working again, the vibration from your hand smacking the lens caused the broken filament to vibrate and “weld” itself together again…
Even new battery’s can fail, as mentioned, that needs to be checked out as well…
Try not to over think this, at least until you have started with the basics, like changing out the bad bulb…
If it gets so bad that no shop you have found can repair the issue (like from the prior rodent chewing wires), and you are still in the Nashville area, then AES in Nashville is (or was a few years ago anyway) the top automotive electrical shop around, they have been around for over 35 years… But I wouldn’t waste their time over something simple, they stay very busy, and are not cheap, but they are the best…
Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind.
I know the front left turn signal is not lighting up except when locking the doors with the remote. Today I bought 4 lights, 2 for front and 2 for rear. I replaced the front left bulb and the old bulb looked good (filaments still attached and no black residue on the inside). The connections on the thing the bulb gets put in appeared normal as well. The new bulb behaved the exact same way as the old bulb. I had to stop for the day for other reasons but I’m not confident I can fit my hand into the right side to re-tighten it after I replace the bulb. l barely got the left one rotated. So in light of that (no pun intended) plus the fact I have 4-5 days until the battery dies, I think I’m going to call a shop tomorrow to bring it in. Actually, I’ll replace the two back ones in the morning before I call the shop.
Looking around, it looks like you are not the only one with this issue, possibles are IPM (instrument panel module), or turn signal lever, or incorrect bulb wattage (wrong bulb), or BCM needs to be reset (disconnect negative battery terminal for one hour)… etc etc
Make sure ALL fuses are good, under hood and in cabin fuses, make sure all interior and exterior bulbs are working… You’d be surprised at what all is intertwined with these vehicles…